Macron targets reform of France's 'disgraceful' public broadcasting

A row has broken out after President Emmanuel Macron reportedly described French public broadcasting as a “disgrace to the Republic”. His office has denied the exact phrasing but there is little doubt that the president is not happy with the quality of programmes or the way that the country's public broadcasting sector is run. It is equally clear, reports Loup Espargilière, that President Macron is planning major reforms in this area.

“I was extremely shocked.” That was how the communist Member of Parliament Marie-George Buffet opened the afternoon meeting of the National Assembly's cultural affairs committee on Tuesday December 5th. She was reacting to the expression which, according to L'Express magazine, President Emmanuel Macron had used the previous evening while speaking to MPs from his La République en Marche (LREM) party who sit on that committee. France's public broadcasting, the centrist president is supposed to have said, is a “disgrace to the Republic”.